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The Kingsbridge Historical Society maintains an archive of historical images. Pictured above is the Miss Bangs and Miss Whiton School for Girls, established in 1905 in the Goodridge Mansion and leased to the Horace Mann School in 1918. In 1959, the Conservative Synagogue of Riverdale purchased the property. At left is a 1906 Charles Buck postcard of PS 7, which opened in 1895 at West 232nd Street and Church Street, now Kingsbridge Avenue. The building was razed in 1965.
Historical society carves out a future By Marie York newsroom@riverdalepress.com
T
he Kingsbridge Historical Society, an organization dedicated to exploring the neighborhood’s storied past, is now looking to the future. For much of this century, with declining membership and nowhere permanent to hold its meetings, the Bronx’s oldest historical society — founded in 1949 — seemed destined to slip into obscurity. In the last four years, the once-thriving and active society held just a handful of events, mostly sparsely attended walking tours of local historic sites. “Slowly, people just stopped participating,” said Peter Ostrander, a Riverdale resident and president of the society for the past three decades. He was seeing the same lack of interest at other public meetings as well, he said, “It was just the trend.” Then something fortuitous seemed to happen: a group of like-minded history buffs attending ng last year’s Riverdale st found Riverfest
each other and decided to reinvigorate the floundering organization. “We realized it’s time to revitalize so we can bring everyone together, maybe those who are new to the community or have been here, to help them explore their history,” said Riverdale resident Thomas X. Casey, the society’s secretary. Among the group’s top priorities were, most obviously, finding a permanent place to hold meetings and, more importantly, bringing the organization anization into the 21st century. Enter Nick ick Dembowski. The local schoolteacher with th a penchant for web design created d an eyecatching, user-friendly website site that features historic photos, linkss to historic documents and other historic storic orr ganizations and, the pièce de résistance, a feature that allows visitors to overlay maps from the time of the Revolutionary War, as well as from 1885, from 1921 and a satellite image from 2006, to see how the RiverdaleKingsbridge area has
changed in the last four centuries. In addition to serving as a learning tool for visitors, the website, www. kingsbridgehistoricalsociety.org, also allows the society to announce events, eliminating the arduous — not to mention costly — task of sending out mailings, Mr. Ostrander said. Over the last few months, the group has held two meetings, one last November, which discussed the Jerome Park race track, and another in February, examining the history of Marble Hill. Held in the Community Hall of St. Gabriel’s Church — which, along with St. Margaret of Cortona, has also generously allowed the group to store some of its archives
— both meetings drew upwards of 60 people, many of them new faces, said Mr. Ostrander. The turnout has given the group hope that their recent efforts are paying off. The society has planned another lecture in May that will address “Kingsbridge During the Revolution in 1776 (as seen by the Dutchess County Militia Regiment).” Richard McGuinness, a Revolutionary War re-enactor and company historian for the 5th New York Regiment, a continental r line regiment during the
war, will be the presenter. This area was home to six American Revolutionary fortifications, a number of battle sites and the King’s Bridge, which was the only land route connecting Manhattan to the mainland. The talk will discuss these forts, some of which still can be seen today. Mr. Ostrander’s hope is to bring new blood to the organization, and to s h o w those in Riverdale and Kingsbridge that history and historical landmarks l exist, even if you can’t see them or know where to look. “There’s so much history in this th area,” said Mr. Ostrander, O who often finds fi himself walking local walki streets visualizing v what life was like centuries ago. The history of the hist neighborhood, he said, said “is fun to know because it mak makes living here jjust a little more interesting.”
Clockwise from top: The Kingsbridge Heights Police Station, originally the 40th Precinct and later designated the 50th, was designated a New York City landmark in 1986 and is located at Kingsbridge Terrace and Summit Place, west of the Jerome Park Reservoir; The Farmer’s Bridge, also known as the Free Bridge, opened in 1758 at West 225th Street, east of Broadway, and served as a free alternative to the King’s Bridge, which charged a toll; The Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum, built in 1902, comprised two identical five-story buildings, one for girls and one for boys. It was acquired by Archbishop Michael Corrigan for $290,000 in 1899 and run by the Sisters of Charity. Today only the chapel is still in use.
PLEASE JOIN US IN WELCOMING OUR NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SALES
GUS PERRY OFFERING NEARLY THREE DECADES OF EXPERIENCE in THE UPPER MANHATTAN/RIVERDALE MARKETS TO THE HALSTEAD FAMILY.